This invention relates to methods and devices which facilitate short to long term storage, using the original container or another container, of a material, such as a liquid. The material may include but not be limited to any type of interior or exterior latex or oil based paint, stain or other interior or exterior surface coatings. Note: “paint” is a general term used in this document to refer to all of the types of surface coatings referenced above.
The price of premium paint cost in excess of $50 per gallon. Having a convenient and cost effective way to preserve paint freshness for short or long periods of time protects this investment. Storing partially filled containers of paint for medium to long periods of time causes evaporation, and as a result, a paint skin forms on the surface. The evaporation problem is greatly accelerated in warm outdoor conditions, where paint is often stored in a secondary container for short periods of time on a project basis. Evaporation results in paint becoming thick and chemically compromised. The paint may be too thick to reconstitute and must be discarded, resulting in a waste of money and further stress on landfills or other methods of waste disposal. For oil based coverings, the air in the container may cause the paint to become oxidized, resulting in a thick skin of the coating to form on the surface. This may also result in the paint becoming chemically compromised and thickened. In addition, the skin that forms on the surface of the paint and on the interior wall of the paint can may fragment and contaminate the remaining paint, forcing the remaining paint to be discarded.
Various devices have been proposed in the art such as transferring unused paint to a separate storage container or removing the metal lid and replacing it with a flexible lid with a spout and seal. In addition, other devices have been proposed in which the air has been vacuumed out of a storage container. However, vacuums may accelerate evaporation, and so may not be suitable for use in storing paint, where evaporation may degrade the quality of the remaining paint.
It is assumed that these devices are useful for their intended purpose, however, these devices do not offer a paint for short to long periods of time, whether or not they use the original product packaging, and in the case of the flexible or vacuumed lid, does not address the evaporation and oxidation issues from the air volume within the partially empty container.
One convenient and relatively inexpensive way to preserve materials in their container is described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,662,342, which has a plug device for a container with a plug handle and a flexible plug body with an exterior edge that conforms to the contours of the interior wall of the container. The plug body is inserted into the container and is positioned to the surface of the material within the chamber using the plug handle. The plug body exerts resistance pressure against the interior wall of the container. The resistance pressure releasably seals the material in the chamber. In certain embodiments, while the plug body is inserted into the container, the resistance pressure squeezes the material from at least a portion of the interior wall of the container down to a pool of the material in the chamber of the container.
In U.S. Pat. No. 8,662,342, disclosed and incorporated herein by reference above, the flexible plug body has a plurality of seals that conform to contours of an interior wall of the container and that simultaneously fit within the container and exert resistance pressure against the interior wall of the container when the plug device is inserted into the container. The plurality of seals has a primary seal and a lower seal that is located below the primary seal along the radial axis of the flexible plug body. The primary seal has a flexible tubular structure with an outwardly facing curved surface, and the lower seal covers a top surface of the material within the container when the plug device is inserted into the container. The lower seal operating in conjunction with the primary seal to improve the releasable sealing by extending outwardly from a center portion of the flexible plug body further than the primary seal when the plug device is not inserted into the container. The lower seal has a flexible outer edge extending outwardly from a center portion of the flexible plug body further than the primary seal when the plug device is not inserted into the container, and curls upwardly toward and against the primary seal and the interior wall of the container when the plug device is inserted into the container. The plug body also has a plug handle section extending to a free end and arranged to facilitate inserting the flexible plug body into the container to the top surface of the material within the container.
It is desirable to provide the plug device with a simple, easy to use plug handle section, which may be used to stabilize a plug body of the plug device and to improve inserting the flexible plug body into and removing it from a container.